There is a growing trend in the area of medical treatment for children with sleep disorders, and it could spell big trouble for the suffering kids if it isn't reversed soon. Dr. Dennis Rosen, a noted pediatric sleep specialist, recently pointed out the huge shortage of the number of qualified subspecialists in the field of pediatric medicine. Oddly enough, when it comes to physicians specializing in adult medicine, the trend is just the opposite: every doctor and his brother wants to be an adult specialist. Why the disparity? I'll give you one gue$$.
Adult sleep specialists make a lot of money. A LOT of money. Those who help children to find a sleep disorder solution, on the other hand, don't make nearly as much. Not only that, but those graduating doctors who want to work with children must attend even more years of medical training and residency. That means they'll have to go into debt even further and wait longer to begin paying it back. That makes pediatric medicine very unattractive from a sheer financial standpoint. But the money issue, significant as it is, isn't the biggest repercussion when it comes to the huge difference in the number of qualified sleep disorder specialists. What is the issue is the access to care.
With so few pediatric specialists in the area of sleep disorders available, that means one of two things. Either the affected child will have to travel great distances at great costs to get the care he or she needs, or that child will have to wait (sometimes months on end) before he or she can be seen by one of the few practitioners he can find. Or perhaps a combination of both.
Check out these sleep disorder statistics. According to the American Board of Pediatrics, there are only 751 qualified pediatric practitioners open for business in the United States. That's only 1 for every 100,000 suffering children. And in sparsely populated states like Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, there isn't even one!
Even though the US government is under great pressure to reduce medical spending, this is a free market problem that simply isn't going to fix itself without some significant intervention from Congress. Too many children's lives are at stake for lack of qualified medical professionals. The extra training is definitely needed (children aren't just "little adults"). But something needs to be done to ease the financial burden of aspiring pediatric sleep disorder specialists. Otherwise many suffering American children won't get the sleep disorder solution they desperately need.
By Harvey Foreman Adult sleep specialists make a lot of money. A LOT of money. Those who help children to find a sleep disorder solution, on the other hand, don't make nearly as much. Not only that, but those graduating doctors who want to work with children must attend even more years of medical training and residency. That means they'll have to go into debt even further and wait longer to begin paying it back. That makes pediatric medicine very unattractive from a sheer financial standpoint. But the money issue, significant as it is, isn't the biggest repercussion when it comes to the huge difference in the number of qualified sleep disorder specialists. What is the issue is the access to care.
With so few pediatric specialists in the area of sleep disorders available, that means one of two things. Either the affected child will have to travel great distances at great costs to get the care he or she needs, or that child will have to wait (sometimes months on end) before he or she can be seen by one of the few practitioners he can find. Or perhaps a combination of both.
Check out these sleep disorder statistics. According to the American Board of Pediatrics, there are only 751 qualified pediatric practitioners open for business in the United States. That's only 1 for every 100,000 suffering children. And in sparsely populated states like Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, there isn't even one!
Even though the US government is under great pressure to reduce medical spending, this is a free market problem that simply isn't going to fix itself without some significant intervention from Congress. Too many children's lives are at stake for lack of qualified medical professionals. The extra training is definitely needed (children aren't just "little adults"). But something needs to be done to ease the financial burden of aspiring pediatric sleep disorder specialists. Otherwise many suffering American children won't get the sleep disorder solution they desperately need.
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